Charter Schools: Now The Hard Part

Officials Examine Road To Approval

June 15, 1998|By PATRICK LEE PLAISANCE Daily Press

It took four years of failed attempts for Virginia to allow cities and counties to consider creating charter schools. But even before the law takes effect next month, local officials already are exploring programs that may grow into examples of the controversial concept.

No charter schools - where high student performance is guaranteed through a charter in exchange for independence from some regulations - are likely to be ready for any students until fall 1999 at the earliest. And the curriculum proposals cited as possible foundations for charter schools could evolve into more traditional programs instead.

But the idea that has spawned more than 300 semi-independent schools nationwide is likely to become a permanent fixture on the educational landscape in Virginia, some officials say. About 400 school board members from across the state gathered in Charlottesville this month for a training class on how to go about considering charter school proposals when they do start coming in.

Those who attended received thick, sobering notebooks that listed every detail officials must think about when considering a charter school: how payroll and custodial services are going to work differently from the systems in place for other schools, when the school buses will run, how the school will buy supplies.

The host of this proactive exercise? The Virginia School Boards Association, a group that fought the charter schools idea nearly every step of the way.

``I think once it became a legislative reality, we all felt it should be taken seriously. And that's what we're trying to do,'' said a onetime vocal opponent of charter schools, York County Schools Superintendent Steven R. Staples.

Staples and others said New Horizons, the region's vocational training school, could prove to be an ideal home for a charter school program. In fact, New Horizons Director Ned Carr has joined forces with other educators and business leaders to develop a new high-tech manufacturing curriculum that would train the next generation of workers who decide a four-year college program isn't for them. The curriculum should be finalized this fall and presented to local school boards perhaps in October, Carr said.

``There's been a lot of discussion about a regional alternative school, and New Horizons is the perfect vehicle to launch a charter school,'' said Staples, who also is president-elect of the state association of school superintendents.

Such a ``school-to-work'' program may also involve Thomas Nelson Community College next door and would enable local industry employers to have a say in what's taught to would-be workers.

``Some people are jumping ahead, saying, `Yes, that would be a good model' '' for a charter school, Carr said.

The state Commission on Youth, in an attempt to cut down on truancy, also plans to establish two specialized vocational training programs - one in Hampton Roads - that will have strong ties to a major employer. The program could develop into an apprenticeship option for youths with little interest in academia.

``An apprentice school could be a good idea for a charter school,'' said Kim Echelberger, a legislative analyst for the commission.

Those potential charter school programs contrast starkly with the scenario that longtime opponents of charter schools warned against: small knots of religious parents and educators who would promote plans for exclusive schools that could usher a new era of segregation.

School officials in Hampton, Newport News and York County said they have not heard of any such groups that have expressed interest in applying for a charter school. In fact, Virginia's charter schools law has several provisions to prevent that scenario - and make any effort to propose a charter school an arduous task.

For example, students must be selected through a lottery process, a school board can approve only two charter schools over the next two years, and half of all charter schools must be geared to help children considered at risk of dropping out of school altogether.

``It's a tough venture; people are going to have to work hard,'' Staples said. ``They can't just get an idea in their head and say, `Let's do a charter school.' ''

The law does not require school boards to do anything if board members have no interest in considering a charter school application.

But in the next few months, some school boards may take the first step required of any city or county that does have an interest: open debate on a resolution that would have to be approved inviting charter school applications. That debate must include public hearings.

``I'd like to see us give it an opportunity,'' said Newport News School Board member John W. McMillan Jr., who attended the Charlottesville session. ``I'm going to try and see if we can at least get it on the agenda and start talking about it.''

Meanwhile, the father of Virginia's charter school measure, Republican Del. Phillip Hamilton of Newport News, is talking up the idea at every opportunity, traveling as far as Winchester to speak to groups that will listen. Hamilton achieved a hard-won victory with the bill's passage earlier this year, after it was killed for four years in a row.

``I think all school boards should address it one way or another,'' Hamilton said. ``Anytime somebody says congratulations, I say, `Thanks - and by the way, would you like to start one?' ''

Patrick Lee Plaisance can be reached at 247-7821 or by e-mail at pplaisance@dailypress.com